


A Sailor's Lullaby

by oldhetaliafics (BisKitty)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Mermaids, brief mentions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 11:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3326033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BisKitty/pseuds/oldhetaliafics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Originally written for Sweethearts Week 2012</p><p>Alfred finds his own siren song. He simply can't resist the charms of the merfolk, and even manages to get a merman of his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Sailor's Lullaby

When Alfred was a lad of 16, he had his first encounter with the waterfolk. He was a young man with bright blonde hair that never seemed to behave or even sit still and bright blue eyes. Alfred was returning from his first fishing trip, and could hear a faint hum echoing from the deserted isles that weren’t particularly far from the islands he called home.

 

When another fisherman caught Alfred’s curious glance, he warned the young boy, “That’s the song of the waterfolk. Get any closer and you lose all o’ yer sense, you’ll be lured in and devoured. Trust me, and steer clear of those islands.”

Alfred nodded, yet his gaze never strayed from the isles. What sort of creature resided there? How could they create such beautiful songs? He gave the isles another glance. They were said to be deserted, so he wondered if the waterfolk were lonely there. Were they using song to call out for company?

That evening spent listening to the distant hum of the waterfolk never really left his memory. His gaze would sometimes wander in the direction of the deserted isles, but he never grew closer until the eve of his nineteenth birthday.

A stranger had come to town! He was a tall man, even taller than Alfred himself, with pale hair and violet eyes that seemed older than the twenty-seven years the man claimed to be. He was a merchant of odd wares, and Alfred found it odd that the man had none of the usual things merchants carried, such as food, fishing supplies, or crafts from the mainland.

Alfred would have written the odd merchant off, if it weren’t for the reason behind the man’s visit. Like Alfred, the occult merchant Ivan Braginsky was curious about the waterfolk. The young man waited until evening to approach Ivan, hesitantly walking up to sit by the man’s fire.

“Do you know what the waterfolk are?” Alfred asked.

“They go by a lot of names. Undine, siren, merfolk, and I suppose waterfolk now. They are a chaemeric beast composed of human and sea creature. Of course, that does not stop their songs from being quite lovely,” Ivan replied.

 

“So you’ve seen one? What do they look like?”

The merchant simply chuckled in reply, and grabbed a nearby stick before drawing a woman with the tail of a fish instead of legs. “I believe the ones you seek are like this. I can teach you to obtain one, but you must do this alone.”

Alfred set out for the deserted isles the next morning. He had given his meager earnings to the merchant in exchange for information, items, and a small boat, enough to carry two people all the way to the deserted isles. As much as Alfred had wanted to listen to the songs of the merfolk, he had waxed up his ears as Ivan had advised him to. The songs were nothing but hums again.

There, in the evening light, Alfred saw him, a merman. This merman was slender, yet it was evident that he had the muscle to pull fully grown men under the water. He had shaggy blonde hair, and eyebrows that were larger than Alfred could believe. Perhaps the large eyebrows were a trait of the merfolk. And the eyes, they were intelligent and so very green. Alfred felt like he had never seen anything more green in his life. The green eyes seemed to shimmer like the merman’s tail. Alfred almost missed the moment when the merman’s attention shifted to him.

The young man gave a nervous smile and wave, whereas the merman simply slipped into the water, disappearing from sight. Alfred restrained himself from looking over the edge of the boat. Alfred felt as though minutes had transformed into hours. Was the merman going to come? Or was Alfred just making things up?

After what seemed like 5 hours (though probably more along the lines of 5 minutes), the green-eyed merman peeked up over the side of Alfred’s boat. He opened his mouth to sing, but all Alfred could hear was that faint humming he had grown familiar with. Alfred moved just a little closer and clasped the pendant that Ivan gave him around the merman’s neck. Before the merman could slip from his grasp, Alfred pulled him up and into his boat.

Heading back to his home, Alfred mumbled what Ivan had told him, “This pendant will make the merfolk human. The one wearing this will be yours, but she will not talk nor will she sing until she is a child of the water again.”

It was a long walk to the village, especially with a naked man in his arms. But it was okay, his house had been so empty for seven years, after the epidemic. Alfred placed the merman in his brother’s old bed. The merman was so pale, with delicate skin, and now there was a strange ink-like marking on his shoulder. Alfred brushed it gently, thinking that it resembled the image engraved onto the pendant. Yes, this was his merman now.

Alfred’s gaze almost moved to the newly formed legs of the merman, but it was much to embarrassing. He had to get the other man some clothes, though Alfred’s would definitely be too big. Yet, it was better than nothing.

Getting clothes onto an unconscious man was tricky, but then again, it was probably better than simply leaving the poor merman naked. Alfred sighed with relief when the sleeping man was clothed in a baggy shirt and some pants that would definitely need a belt. It was odd, seeing someone else in his clothes, but Alfred didn’t mind the feeling.

Alfred was making a meal for them when the merman woke up. He didn’t realize it until the lithe man peeked into the kitchen. Alfred couldn’t hold back a grin, “Good morning! I’m making some food for us, and so you can sit down and we can figure out your name. Oh, by the way, my name is Alfre-“ he was cut off by an angry scowl from the merman.

With a huff, the smaller man stormed off to the table. By the time Alfred had brought back food for them, the merman was still glaring daggers at Alfred. The young fisherman could only offer him another smile as he put down the food.

“I’m sure you’re hungry, why don’t you eat something? Then I can find out your name,” Alfred was only rewarded with a suspicious glare. “Nah, I’m not gonna poison you. If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done so back at the island. You can trust me, I’m a hero.”

The merman wordlessly began to pick at his food before hesitantly eating. Alfred’s smile grew bigger and he started to talk again, “So what am I gonna call you? I can’t just keep calling you Mr. Merman, cause that’s sorta weird, but you can’t exactly tell me your name… So I could like guess, but uh, can you write?”

Alfred earned another toxic glare in response.

It took him forty-three tries with one hint to finally pinpoint Arthur’s name. Alfred had almost wanted to give up and simply call the merman “Fish sticks”, but that would have probably ended with him getting a fork stuck in his neck.

It took another month before he got a smile out of the mermaid, and an entire year for a hug. It would be another year before they shared a bed together. A decade passed by quite quickly.

Alfred was twenty-nine years old, and Arthur hadn’t aged a day. Alfred had made them dinner (since the grumpy merman was banned from the kitchen after nearly burning their little house down).

Their anniversary was spent quietly, with mostly sweet words from Alfred and gentle kisses from Arthur. They went to bed early, letting gently touches turn into passionate caresses and soon Arthur was making love to Alfred.

“I love you,” Alfred mumbled softly before the two fell asleep, legs entwined.

Alfred had a strange dream that night. He was on a beach at night, enjoying the tranquil sounds of the waves hitting the shore. Even if it was dark, Alfred could sense that there was nothing lurking in the dark. It was just him, the sand, and the sea. Slowly, he heard that faint humming from when he was a teenager. The humming grew into a quiet and beautiful song, and Alfred had to find it’s owner. He stepped into the sea and-

Alfred woke up to an empty bed. Arthur’s side of the bed was cold, as if Arthur had been gone for hours. He had to get to the beach. If he could find Arthur somehow, maybe the other would stay. The sun had not yet risen by the time Alfred reached the beach. Again, he found himself alone on the beach. He closed his eyes, trying to hold back tears, wanting to listen, to maybe even hear his Arthur’s voice.

Instead, he felt. He felt a cold metal chain brush up against his feet. No doubt it was the one he had given to Arthur, now it was empty and had lost it’s magic. The hum returned, and Alfred could hear a man’s voice, gently singing a lullaby.

Alfred knew what to do.


End file.
